Yukiya Arashiro, you'll be hard pressed to find a nicer guy in the peloton.

Happy Independence Day to all my Yankee readers. Last year US cycling fans celebrated this special day with a Tyler Farrar victory. Today, Chris Horner was the best placed of the Americans in 63rd spot and Farrar came in 4:13 after Greipel, in 185th position. The only thing Uncle Sam can be proud of today is, once again, is Tejay Van Garderen (not to be confused with TJ Hooker or TJ Maxx), who is still wearing the White Jersey.

So, today's stage was, as I had anticipated, pretty dumb, with only five things worth mentioning:

First off, we didn't see Morkov, or his retarded petechiae helmet.

Second, because of my affinity to Japanese riders, it was pretty cool to see Arashiro in the break, winning the Most Combative Rider award and being interviewed after the stage. If you ever get a chance to meet Yukiya, go up to him. His English isn't the best, but he is the absolute nicest of guys.

Thirdly (I just learned that "thirdly" is an actual word), the Lotto Beli-Soul Train®, was awesome today and delivered Greipel to a pretty relaxed victory with only a half-cocked (he is 89 years-old, after all) Petacchi challenging him.

Fourthly (not an actual word), now you can see the need of a team around you, mister Cav.

Fifth, on diarrhea watch: Marcel Kittel finished almost 5 minutes back, and now sits just one spot ahead of lantern rouge Brice Feillu in the General Classification.

Tomorrow? *sigh*
The only thing that can make tomorrow's stage watchable is if Johnny Cash himself rises from the grave and performs Saint-Quentin at the finish line, in Saint-Quentin.